Cohen, Dara. "Explaining Rape during Civil War Cross-National Evidence (1980-2009)". The American Political Science Review, Vol.107, No.3 (2013): 461-477.

Cohen, Dara. "Explaining Rape during Civil War Cross-National Evidence (1980-2009)". The American Political Science Review, Vol.107, No.3 (2013): 461-477.

• Wartime rape has been a part of conflict throughout recorded history and continues to be present, yet its incident varies considerably between different conflicts and there is not currently a good theoretical explanation of why its use in conflict varies (461).
• The three common explanations of wartime sexual violence are that rape occurs where there is greater opportunity for rape because of state collapse, that wartime rape is more prevalent in ethnic conflicts, and that rape is a consequence of high levels of gender inequality (462). 
• Wartime rape and other forms of sexual violence serve the purpose of socialization of combatants, meaning participation in these crimes -- especially gang rape -- forms a group identity within armed groups. Accordingly, it is much more common among groups whose members were kidnapped or pressed into service (461, 465-466).
• The Revolutionary United Front [RUF] in Sierra Leone is a great example of this trend because almost all of its members were kidnapped and pressed into service and often experienced beatings, forced labor, and sexual violence during their initial membership in the group. Accordingly, they had exceptionally low morale and group cohesion, a problem partially overcome by widespread participation in gang rape (464).
• Statistical evidence supports this claim, with abducted and pressganged soldiers significantly more likely to commit rape. Other forms of recruitment, like forcible conscription, do not appear to increase the likelihood of rape (469-470, 472-473).
• The author defines 'wartime rape' as an act committed during conflict that involves the penetration of the anus or vagina with a penis or another foreign object. It can cause psychological and physical harm, including trauma, shame, stigma, unwanted children, disease, and displacement, for both victims and, sometimes, perpetrators (462).
• Although linked to overall levels of violence in a conflict, wartime rape should be considered separately to homicide or combat death. These events often occur in different areas and affect different populations; men and boys are much more likely to die in combat, whereas women and girls are disproportionately likely to be victims of wartime sexual violence (462).
• One theory explaining wartime rape posits that the breakdown of social norms and legal orders against sexual violence allows more men to fulfill a presumed inherent desire to rape; this theory is often combined with evidence that more abusive and violent individuals are attracted to insurgencies. This means that rape should be more common as states crumble and more commonly committed in conflicts without an ideological character, as these tend to attract more brutal fighters (462-463).
• This view is not generally supported, since the severity of the conflict is not significantly correlated to the prevalence of rape, with another factor having to explain why some conflicts are more rapey than others. Groups that seek material gain over other goals are more likely to commit rape, although this may be due to recruitment methods rather than self-selection by more violent individuals (470-471).
• Another view is that rape is a tool of war used to demean and humiliate an opposing group, making it much more common during ethnic warfare, when attacks are targeted against group identities as much as individuals. Accordingly, rape should be much more common during ethnic conflicts, genocides, and ethnic cleansings (463).
• None of the predicted factors associated with ethnic war are significantly correlated with rape, with rape actually being less common on average during genocides, ethnic cleansing, and ethnic wars than during other kinds of conflict. This may be because of perceptions in ethnic wars that sexual contact with the enemy may have a polluting effect on the rapist (471).
• Some feminist scholars posit that greater gender inequalities allows the use of widespread rape by both inculcating the social attitudes that allow for sexual violence and make it militarily useful by creating the negative social stigma surrounding rape that poisons affected families and communities (463).
• Although conflicts featuring large amounts of wartime war frequently occur in countries with high levels of gender inequality, there is no evidence to suggest that wartime rape is more common in these conflict than those in countries with high levels of gender equality (471).
• Gang rape is much more common during warfare that during peacetime, reflecting the fact that participation in gang rape is a tactic used by some armed groups to increase group cohesion and boost morale. Rape during peacetime is almost always private and committed by single perpetrators, contrasted to the public and performative nature of rape -- often gang rape -- during wartime (463-464).
• Single-perpetrator rape is often driven by sexual desire, and often committed by serial rapists driven by pathological desire. Wartime gang rape, in contrast, is usually committed by individuals who would never commit sexual violence during peacetime, have not had previous offenses, and do not demonstrate criminal pathologies (464).
• The motives behind gang rape during wartime are not particularly sexual, and instead focus on demonstrating group participation and proving group membership by committing the act (464). Participation reinforces masculine identity and thus reaffirms membership in a masculine military unit (464-465). This can arguably still apply to women, as per Dr. Dara's other work, as their participation in sexual violence against civilians still demonstrates a 'masculine' attribute of ruthlessness and strength despite being a woman.
• The social cohesive effects of gang rape during wartime are demonstrated by the strong social bonds that persisted between RUF members compared to other armed groups. Despite often having no connections prior to their forcible recruitment into the Front, RUF soldiers were much more likely to remain friends with fellow combatants (475).
• Almost all armed units are assured to have members who would rape out of personal desire and likely will commit this crime in conditions of anarchy. This individual tendency of a minority cannot, however, explain the widespread prevalence of rape in combat (465).
• The author discusses methodology from page 466 to page 469; the main takeaway points are that reliable data on sexual violence is difficult to obtain due to social stigma, reporting is likely to have increased since the 1990s due to more awareness following the Bosnian War, and almost all reports are likely to express political bias in reporting.
• The link between groups that commit a large amount of sexual violence and those that rely on forcible recruitment is likely mutually reinforcing. Abducted soldiers are more likely to commit gang rape, while groups with reputation for sexual violence are less able to attract voluntary recruit and less more likely to depend on forcible recruitment methods (473).
• The Revolutionary United Front committed a vastly disproportionate portion of the rapes committed during the Sierra Leonean Civil War. Its armed forces were recruited almost entirely through kidnapping, with under 25% of soldiers knowing any family or friends in the Front. This demonstrates the connections between methods of recruitment and the prevalence of rape committed by an armed group (474).
• The increasing number of rapes committed by the Civilian Defense Forces throughout the Civil War also supports this claim, as the increase in its sexual violence occurred during the same period as a change in recruitment tactics from voluntary conscription from local areas to forcible abduction of new soldiers (474).
• There was widespread participation of female RUF fighters in gang rape, with women perpetrating a quarter of all gang rapes committed by the Front (475).
• Almost no fighters in the Sierra Leonean Civil War reported being ordered by commanders to rape, with sexual violence emerging organically from within military units. The larger institutional factor was that military officers knew that rape was occurring and did nothing to prevent it, instead often participating in rape themselves (475).